Straw Morrison

Marble Springs 2.0 screenshot of Straw Morrison

What we know

1894 - ?
Youngest daughter of Bart and Lizzie Morrison. One of thirteen children. Became apprenticed to Doc Nancy, who paid her way through high school and college. After graduating form the University of Colorado's medical school in 1921, Straw returned to become the only medical doctor in the Crystal River Valley outside of Glenwood Springs. She bought a ranch near the old Jenson place and willed it to the Nature Conservancy.

Gathering Rituals

First, the chokecherries,
dark, bold, and bitter,
framed by blood-red leaves—
too cutting for jam,
too knowing for wine
without destruction.

Then elderberries¹,
day-slow globes fading
to soft sunsets. Wait—
Doc Nancy said. These
become sweet only
when the color of night.

While they worked, Straw's hands
prayed to the nettles
to tell her of distant
pains as the stings
gathered through tiny pricks
of old stars.

Footnotes

1. On the Use of Chokecherries
The expressed juice of the berries, evaporated to the consistence of a syrup, is a valuable asperient and alterative; one ounce of it will purge. The Herbalist

Connections

Portal

Sources

Meyer, J.E. Author and Compiler. 1934. The Herbalist. Indian Botanic Gardens, Hammond Indiana.

Portal caption and links

A drawing of branch with berries.
Zandra Miller
Washerwoman
Rachel Cole
Edna Harris
Jail
Maddy Bates
Ruby Mateson
Alvina Heollstar
White Owl
Graveyard

Portal for secret connections